A Bite of the Past
by Emerald1
Summary: A case from the past collides with the present, and one agent is caught in the middle.  It's okay, because he's got his big brother to watch his back.  SeSa present for Sondheimmcgeek. Tony-Tim friendship, PapaGibbs. In 9 chapter, one a day.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I have, however, been quite sick and my computer managed to fry itself. It's under warranty and going in for repairs soon, but I did lose everything that I had. Most of it was backed up, except for the most current chapters that I was working on. While the computer was having problems, all I bothered to reload on it were the stories for the Christmas exchanges, since they had such a hard and fast deadline. I'm going to post those, starting now. This one is nine chapters, I'll post one a day. As soon as the repairs are done and I get my laptop back, I'll start rewriting the last chapter of Puppet Master. I might start even sooner if I can come up with a full sized keyboard for my netbook. Uploading files is one thing, writing on that tiny little keyboard is quite another.**

* * *

A Bite of the Past

Tony tapped his foot impatiently as he fiddled with an already finished report, trying to look busy while he waited for an IM from Palmer. The three of them had decided that Palmer would be the contact point, as Gibbs would be too aware of any phone calls DiNozzo received, but the wait was killing him. Finally he had to ask and pulled the IM program to the top of his screen.

Any word yet?

He quickly muted the sound so Gibbs wouldn't hear the distinctive ding when a returning message arrived. It was just in time, as Palmer answered quickly, apparently also anxious.

Not yet, I promise I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.

Sighing, Tony returned to pretending to work on his report, thinking back to exactly how he'd gotten talked into covering for McGee in the first place.

_Monday_

_The slamming of the phone startled the occupants of the squad room. Two head popped up from where they'd been studying a printout. "Ziva, you and I are going to re-interview the neighbor." Gibbs stood, pulling on his coat. "DiNozzo, you keep on the phone records by yourself. McGee can help you when he gets finished with Taylor's computer." _

_Ziva frowned at the request. "Gibbs, we have interviewed her three times already. What more information do you expect to get from her?" It was Tony that answered, with a grin. _

_"The good widow Johnson is on a manhunt of her own, Ziva. You're going along to protect the boss's virtue."_

_Gibbs gave a shrug as he bit back a smile. "Just keep her on track, Ziva."_

_As she stood, Ziva leaned over to whisper in Tony's ear. "Mrs. Johnson is at least ninety-five. She wouldn't know what to do with him if she caught him." The raised eyebrow and pointed look told them that Gibbs had heard exactly what she said._

_Tony had their corner of the squad room all to himself for less than a minute before McGee's desk phone rang. Grinning, he caught it before it could go to voice mail. "Agent McGee's desk."_

_~Is Agent McGee available?~_

_"Not at the moment, may I take a message?" Tony grinned even wider. Whoever she was, she sounded pretty. As a DiNozzo, he considered himself an expert on the subject._

_~I'm just confirming his check in time for Thursday and we will see him then.~_

_DiNozzo's grin widened yet again. McGee had been very secretive about his vacation plans, and this little nugget of information could not be ignored. He wrote down the phone number from the display on McGee's phone before moving to his own desk to check the reverse directory. Since McGee was taking the two weeks before Christmas, he was assuming that the young man was going to spend some time snuggled up with a snow-bunny at a ski lodge somewhere and he wanted to know which one. _

_Tony was still staring at his findings when the elevator chimed and the doors opened to reveal McGee. Closing out the window, DiNozzo was up and across the room before McGee was completely out of the elevator, pushing him back in and slamming his hand on the button. The elevator had barely started to move before Tony flipped the emergency stop._

_"Tony, what?"_

_"So, tell me, McGoo, since when did Bethesda become a destination resort?"_

_"How did you...?"_

_"Doesn't matter how I found out." Tony was pacing in the small metal box. "What matters is that you lied to us about it."_

_McGee dropped his chin to his chest for a moment before straightening up. "I didn't lie, Tony. My scheduled vacation starts at the end of the workday on Wednesday."_

_"And you'd rather use your vacation than your medical leave?"_

_"Well, I'd hoped to have some privacy."_

_Tony glanced up and down McGee, thinking about what medical condition would elicit such a desire for privacy in another man. "God, Probie, you didn't find a lump, did you?"_

_"What? No." Sighing, McGee gave in, knowing that Tony wasn't going to let it go. "The scar tissue in my arm is putting pressure on the nerves." He rubbed his left arm as he felt the phantom teeth once again bite down on his flesh. DiNozzo saw the movement and pieced together the memories._

_"From the dog? After all this time, it's causing you problems now?"_

_"It's always caused me problems, Tony, but it wasn't too bad until a couple of months ago when that suspect freaked out in interrogation and grabbed my arm. Now it's not an option, I need to have the surgery to keep the use of my hand."_

_"Why didn't you say something then?" Tony remembered the case, Gormley, a muscle-bound Marine had been accused of stealing ammo from the rife range at Quantico. His addiction to drugs had become evident only a few minutes into the interview when he'd thrown a chair at Gibbs and dragged McGee across the table. Tony winced as the memories became clear. "You did complain about your arm and we just blew it off. Abby got mad about you still blaming Jethro and Gibbs sent you down to Ducky to stop her from ranting about it."_

_"Yeah, and Ducky had Jimmy drive me to the hospital." McGee reached past Tony and turned the elevator back on while he continued to explain. "It tore up the internal scarring that had never healed right and now it's a lot worse."_

_Sometimes Tony remembered too much from his degree in Phys Ed. "So now there's a lump of scar tissue that's putting pressure on the main nerve that goes down into your hand?" Tim silently nodded. "Man, there's a good chance of damaging the nerve if the doctor doesn't know what he's doing."_

_The doors opened and Tim stepped around the Senior Agent to return to his desk. "Yeah, I know, Tony." The other man wasn't willing to let it go quite yet._

_"What if we get a big case this week and Gibbs cancels your vacation?"_

_Tim looked around, but their teammates were still not back. "Vance knows. He's bringing in a TAD to cover for me while I'm out, and longer if necessary."_

_Tony leaned over McGee's desk, hissing. "You went to Vance and not Gibbs? Are you crazy?"_

_"No, I'm practical, rule number eighteen."_

_"Better to ask forgiveness than permission? Do you honestly think Gibbs would object to you having a necessary operation? Try this one on for size: rule fifteen: always work as a team." Waiting for an answer, he perched on the corner of McGee's desk. _

_"Well, yeah, but there's... Abby."_

_"Abby? You don't want our Mistress of the Dark taking care of you? Just because she's attached to the dog that attacked you... what is going to happen to the dog while you're laid up, anyway?"_

_"Jethro is happily romping in a two acre yard with his new owner, and has been for months." _

_"Wow, does Abby know?"_

_Tim was hitting the keys a little harder than necessary. "I'm still alive."_

_"Wait a minute, how does she not know?"_

Still upset by the answer he'd been given and not knowing how to fix the problem, Tony shook his head and returned to pretending that he was studiously working on the file up on his computer.

Gibbs frowned as he watched DiNozzo. McGee had been on vacation for just a few hours and already the other man was distracted. Things had been tense in the squad room the last few days, but Gibbs had chalked it up to DiNozzo being jealous of McGee getting vacation time. December was a popular time and most requests had been denied. Gibbs, himself, had been a little put out that McGee was granted the time off. As a single man with no children and no passion for skiing, he'd had no reason to take the coveted vacation slot.

Tony scrolled through the pages, not even seeing them, as he thought about Abby. He loved her like a sister, but right now he would like to shake some sense into her. After his conversation with McGee, he'd found himself tasked with driving her to the courthouse to testify the next day. Her part of the trial had only lasted an hour, but the noontime traffic on the way back had given them plenty of time to talk.

_Tuesday_

_"So, Abby, you spending a lot of time with Timmy and Jethro?"_

_She looked surprised at the question. "You know how busy we are, Tony. Besides, Spike doesn't like dogs very much." _

_"Spike?"_

_"My boyfriend." When Tony didn't seem to recognize the name, she rolled her eyes and told more about him. "He's the lead singer for Dead Zombies."_

_He couldn't let that one slide. "By definition, aren't all zombies dead?" Tony had just enough time to tighten the muscles in his arm before she punched him._

_"Tony!"_

_"Sorry, Abs, I was just surprised that you'd date a guy that didn't like dogs." When she just shrugged, he kept going. "So how long have you been dating... Spike?"_

_"What are you all of a sudden, my father?" Another eye roll, "we've been dating for six weeks and no, you're not going to start running a background check on him."_

_"Do I need to?" Tony quieted as he squeezed the sedan past a truck to turn onto a lesser used side street. "No, I was just wondering why you weren't hanging around with McGee and the dog. I thought you practically had joint custody of the mutt."_

_If he was showing his disappointment, she wasn't picking up on it. "I don't need to be with them to take care of Jethro. I tell McGee what he needs and what to buy for him. After all, I picked out the doggie day care for him and I send McGee lists of toys and things he needs. It's McGee's responsibility to take care of him, not mine."_

_Tony thought about reminding her that it was a responsibility that she'd forced on him, but decided it would only make trouble for the other man_.

Finding himself at the last page of the file without having read a single word, Tony scrolled back up to try again but an IM from Palmer stopped him.

In recovery, too early to tell if successful.

The wave of relief was quickly flattened by a countering wave of anger at the thought of his Probie waking up alone in the hospital. He stood, shoving his chair back with more force than necessary. Gibbs looked up at him, eyebrow raised.

"Problem, DiNozzo?"

"Just need to stretch my legs, Boss."

"Go." Gibbs waved him towards the door. With any luck, he'd be in a better mood when he got back. Tony didn't look a gift horse in the mouth as he headed straight for Autopsy.

Down in Autopsy, Ducky was also becoming annoyed. "Mr. Palmer, if you were so worried about your friend, perhaps you should have taken the day off."

"Sorry, Dr. Mallard, I just wanted to make sure his surgery went all right. I'll wait and take my day off when he's released from the hospital." He saw DiNozzo hovering just outside the doorway. "Do you mind if I..."

Ducky glanced up from the paperwork he was slogging through and saw Palmer edging towards the doorway. He gave a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Fine, Mr. Palmer, take your break, but I expect some work out of you when you return." The Medical Examiner shook his head as his assistant scrambled out of the room.

Tony herded Palmer down the hallway to the back stairs, not slowing down until they were on the other side of the heavy fire door. "What do you mean they don't know if it worked? How could they not know?"

"The nerve block is still in place, it's designed to last while he heals." Palmer had researched extensively until he was comfortable understanding the differences between the different types of nerve blocks since he couldn't ask Ducky too many questions without raising suspicions. "They don't want him moving his arm too soon, even in his sleep."

"Yeah, I know. I just wish that one of us was down there with him." Tony stopped pacing and leaned against the wall. "Heck, I hate the fact that he feels like he had to sneak around to do this."

Palmer leaned against the opposite wall. "Do you have any idea how to fix it?"

"You mean make Abby grow up, convince Gibbs to stop playing favorites and give McGee the ability to stand up to them both? Haven't a clue." He slumped further against the wall, Jimmy again mirroring his action.

"Me either. He just seemed so depressed this morning when I drove him to Bethesda." Palmer's phone rang, stopping anything else he would have said. He looked at the display in surprise. "It's McGee." In his haste to answer the call, Jimmy almost dropped the phone. "McGee? Hey, man, I didn't expect you to be up to calling for a few hours... wait... slow down... who was killed? What did you see?"

Tony didn't wait for Palmer to explain, instead he took the phone. "McGee, talk to me."

_~I saw her do it, Tony, but I couldn't stop her.~_

"Who, Tim, who did you see?" Tony fought back his rising panic. McGee sounded lost and terrified. Before there was any answer, he could hear the sounds of a scuffle and then McGee's faint voice.

_~Tony, help me!~_

McGee's voice faded as if he was moving away from the phone before a different voice spoke. It was female and Tony was sure he'd never heard her before.

_~He's going back to sleep and when he wakes up he won't remember this silly nightmare, nothing to worry about.~_

The call was disconnected before Tony could question her. Instead, he turned to Palmer. "What could they have given him that would cause that kind of hallucination?"

Jimmy was shaking his head as he thought. "Nothing, at least not in a normal dosage. He's in trouble, isn't he? What do we do?"

"An agent reported a possible murder, that's good enough for me."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - Glad you like this one. I'm currently sitting in my son's hospital room. He was admitted to the hospital close to his college last night and then transferred by ambulance to another hospital a few hours later. They get really nervous when a patient presents with a fever of 105.**

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* * *

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Gibbs looked up when DiNozzo came into the squad room at a full run. "Where's the fire?"

"Murder at Bethesda, suspect may have a hostage." He grabbed his handgun and an extra clip, Gibbs and Ziva only a few seconds behind him as they headed for the elevator. Gibbs waited until the door closed behind them.

"This didn't come through dispatch, how did you know?"

Tony braced for the explosion. "McGee's the witness, and the possible hostage."

"What?" Gibbs automatically reached for the emergency stop. "What in the hell is going on, DiNozzo?" Tony's hand shot out and blocked Gibbs before he could stop the elevator.

"Tim's in trouble and needs us now."

Seeing the look on his senior agent's face, Gibbs let his hand drop back down. "Ziva, you drive; Tony, I want a full explanation before we get to Bethesda. Is that understood?"

True to his word, Gibbs waited until they were pulling out of the parking lot before turning to Tony. "Why is McGee at Bethesda and not at some ski resort? Was he in an accident on his way out of town?"

Tony was too angry and too worried to pull any punches. "He used his vacation time to cover a very risky and possibly career ending surgery, Gibbs. He didn't have anyone to be with him in the recovery room and he thinks he saw a murder being committed."

Gibbs had a hundred questions, but forced himself to focus on the most pressing matters. "You're convinced that he actually saw that?"

"The phone was taken away from him before I could get any more than that, but he was scared, Boss. He was scared and begging me to help him. Palmer said that the meds they had him on wouldn't cause that kind of hallucination unless they really screwed up his dosage."

Gibbs finished DiNozzo's thought. "And if that's the case, then he's still in danger, just a different kind."

"Yeah." Tony stared over Gibbs' shoulder and out the windshield. "Either way, he's in trouble and alone."

"But why?" Ziva glanced up at the rear view mirror, making eye contact for just a second. "Why is he alone? What is wrong with McGee and why would he hide it from us?" Gibbs shook his head.

"Not from all of us, Ziva." The pointed look he gave DiNozzo was impossible to ignore.

"I found out by accident, Boss, he didn't want any of us to know because..."

"Because?" The raised eyebrow told Tony that only total honesty would be accepted.

"Because when he was injured, none of us took it seriously – either time."

This put McGee's vacation in a whole new light. "Vance knew?"

"Yeah, he did. What does that say, Gibbs? The least experienced member of our team felt more comfortable going to the Director than to any of us. I don't know about you, Boss, but it was one hell of a wake up call for me."

* * *

It wasn't until the third time that Ducky glanced over at Palmer that he finally started asking questions, somewhat unsettled by the intense focus his young assistant was showing. "Mr. Palmer, is there something I should know before we arrive at our destination? Perhaps the location of said destination?"

Jimmy figured by now, Gibbs was getting an earful from DiNozzo, which gave him a boost of confidence. "Tim McGee had major reconstructive surgery on his arm this morning. He thinks he saw someone murdered in the recovery room right after he regained consciousness, but the phone was taken away from him before we could question him." Any other day he would have been thrilled to have rendered the older man speechless, but he was too worried about his friend to even register the reaction.

They were almost at Bethesda before Ducky was finally able to speak. "What on Earth... what kind of reconstructive surgery... why didn't I know... good heavens, did Jethro know about this?"

"I knew because I'm the one that drove him to the hospital the second time he was injured and Tony found out by accident. McGee figured nobody else cared."

"Why would Timothy believe none of us cared?" Their arrival at Bethesda gave Jimmy an excuse not to answer.

* * *

If the nurse in charge of the recovery room at Bethesda expected their arrival, she covered it well. "I'm sorry, if you're here to see a patient, you'll have to wait until they've been transferred to a regular room."

Gibbs pulled out his badge as he shook his head. "We're here on official business and we're not waiting." Sidestepping her, he walked into the large room and started doing a visual sweep, looking for both his agent and any sign of suspicious activity. Tony and Ziva started their search on the other side, while Ducky and Jimmy went straight to the nurse's station and started looking for McGee's name on the tall stack of binders that held the hard copies of each patient's file.

"The file isn't here, Jethro." At Ducky's proclamation Gibbs looked over at DiNozzo who shook his head. Ziva was more forceful with her concerns.

"He is not here, Gibbs, what is going on?"

"Perhaps if you told us which patient you are looking for?" The blonde nurse looked calm at first glance, but Gibbs could see a tenseness around her eyes that set off his gut. He watched closely as he answered her question, putting extra emphasis on the title.

"Timothy McGee, Agent Timothy McGee."

Tony picked up the narrative. "We know he was in recovery, so where is he?"

If anything, her smile became even more brittle. "His name isn't familiar, but we've been very busy and we're shorthanded since it's near the holidays. I'm sure it's just a matter of his surgery running late. If you leave your number with the clerk outside, we'll let you know when he is ready for visitors. Now, I will have to ask you to leave. Your presence here is stressful for the rest of the patients."

"Not until I know what happened to my man and we finish investigating the crime he witnessed." Gibbs stepped close, forcing her to move backwards until the counter at the nurse's station stopped her.

While the battle of wills was going on in the center of the room, Ziva was double checking the empty cubicles around the perimeter. The room was almost full of semiconscious surgery patients, with only three empty cubicles. One was clean and obviously ready for a patient to be wheeled in, while the other two showed signs of being recently occupied. They were in the corner furthest from the nurse's desks and next to each other, fitting Tony's claim that McGee had seen something he shouldn't. Snapping on a pair of gloves, she carefully poked through the full trash bin next to where a bed would be. "Gibbs, I found something." She held up her hands, holding a broken iPhone and a small, flat battery. "It looks like McGee's."

There was no warmth in the blue eyes as he stared at the nurse who'd been challenging him, even as he barked out orders to his team. "Bag and tag it and everything else there. DiNozzo, get me all the security footage. Ducky, they've probably moved the body to the morgue already. Take it back to the Yard."

"An identity of the deceased would be helpful, Jethro."

Gibbs wasn't sure if they could trust anything they'd be told by the woman or any of the other staff. "Take them all, Duck. Not going to give them a chance to swap identities on any of the bodies." Ignoring the horrified expression on the Medical Examiner's face, Gibbs pulled out his phone and dialed. The Director would need to be informed before dozens of bodies showed up and he'd need to use all the clout of his position to soothe the feathers Gibbs was about to ruffle.

* * *

Vance hadn't even slammed his phone down yet before he was on his feet and yelling for his assistant. She was in his office within seconds. "Yes, Sir?"

"Gather every agent currently aboard the Yard, non-field personnel, too. Gibbs will be conducting a floor by floor search of Bethesda and he needs the manpower."

"The whole hospital, Sir?" Pamela couldn't help but blink. The entire complex was a large, sprawling maze of structures. "May I ask what we're looking for?"

"Not what, who. Agent McGee vanished from the recovery room shortly after having surgery and he may have witnessed a murder. He needs to be located quickly not only because the killer probably knows what he saw, but so that he can receive the proper medical care. Gather everyone in the squad room, I'll brief them as soon as I update the SecNav."

* * *

The Chief of Surgery was taking the situation seriously when Gibbs began handcuffing his nurses, starting with the blonde. The rest of the nursing staff was allowed to continue to care for the patients, under the team's supervision, until replacement nurses arrived from different areas of the hospital. The first agents to arrive were tasked with transporting the nurses and the evidence back to the Yard, while the rest were spread out to search for their missing man.

Charlie Evans walked into the lab with a box of evidence for the first time since a heart attack had ended his career as a field agent. As much as he missed the action out in the field, he hated the reason for his temporary return. Two members of the CCU followed him in with the rest of the boxes, but beat a hasty retreat, leaving him to sign the evidence over to Abby. He knew she hadn't been called up to the squad room for the briefing and he was wondering exactly how to explain the situation to her. She looked up and dashed towards him.

"Charlie, I haven't seen you in, like, forever. What are you doing with an evidence box, does that mean that you're back out in the field?" She hugged the older man tightly, not noticing the arrival of Director Vance in the lab.

"It's been a long time, Abby," after a moment, he gently pulled her loose, "but I'm just helping with an emergency case." He took a deep breath and prepared to tell her what had happened.

Vance chose that moment to step in. "Thank you, Agent Evans, I'll take it from here."

Abby couldn't help but notice the relieved look on Charlie's face as he hastily left the lab without saying another word. "What's going on, Leon? What case is so much of an emergency that you'd have him back out in the field?" She started to reach into the evidence box to see for herself, but Vance took her arm and led her to her office and sat her down in the chair before perching on the corner of her desk. "You're starting to scare me, Director. If it was something bad, Gibbs would have come told me himself. Oh, my God, is that it, did something happen to Gibbs?"

"Gibbs is fine, Miss Sciuto."

"Then it's Tony? What happened, did someone try to frame him again, or blow him up, or..."

"No, it's not DiNozzo." Vance rushed to cut her off before she could build up a head of steam.

"Ziva?" Now she started to look uncertain.

"No, Abby, it's McGee."

"McGee? No, can't be. McGee's always fine." She started to stand, but Vance blocked her path.

"No, he's not fine, he hasn't been for quite some time. He had a very risky operation this morning, and now it appears that he was kidnapped from the hospital recovery room after witnessing a murder."

Abby shook her head in disbelief. "You're wrong, Director, Timmy is fine. He's just on vacation."

"Agent McGee took two weeks vacation to have the surgery. After that, he will be on desk duty for quite some time. That is assuming that he survives whatever happened to him this morning and regains the full use of his arm and hand." Under the circumstances, Vance wasn't in the mood to babysit the sometimes childish woman, so he laid down the law and carefully watched her reaction. The top evidence bag in the box was the one with the remains of McGee's cell phone in it and he held it up in front of her. "This is part of the evidence gathered from where McGee disappeared. We know that someone, more than likely the murder suspect, physically took this phone from McGee when he tried to call for help. On the off-chance that there are fingerprints or DNA, I would suggest you start there. Now, are you capable of doing this, or do I need to bring in another lab technician?"

"McGee is really missing?" She slowly reached out and took the bagged phone. "I can do this, Sir, I will. I'll find every scrap of evidence the killer left behind, but how are we going to find McGee?"

"Leave that to Gibbs, just give him something to go on, Miss Sciuto, and do it quickly. I don't know about Gibbs' gut, but mine is telling me that McGee is running out of time." Vance gave her one last hard look before leaving, another call to the SecNav the next thing on his agenda.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Still at the hospital, but he's doing better. They lifted the quarantine protocols at midnight and let me tell you, it's a lot easier to sleep without the mask and gloves on. Thank for all the well wishes.**

* * *

Calling in a variety of favors, Ducky had every coroner's wagon within one hundred miles. Having them at his disposal made transporting every body that was in the morgue in Bethesda's lower level much easier. Intrigued by the situation, several local medical examiners offered to assist with the multiple autopsies that would be necessary, but Ducky's main concern was their missing agent and what condition he would be in when, and if, he was found. Once he had the bodies securely tucked away in every drawer in Autopsy, he was back at Bethesda helping with the search.

It was a call from one of the intel analysts that had Ducky, Jimmy and the rest of Gibbs' team running to a rarely used corridor leading to the back-up generators in the lower basement of the hospital. In the dusty and dimly lit passage was a hospital bed shoved up against the wall. Jimmy reached it first and was rattling off information before Ducky was within reach.

"He's alive, but his vitals are really low. Respiration shallow, pulse thirty-six and thready and he's diaphoretic." Jimmy rubbed his knuckles hard on McGee's chest. "Deeply unconscious with no visible response to pain."

Ducky nodded as he started his own examination. "At least the bandaging appears to be intact, that's a good sign. Let's get this empty IV removed before it causes problems, and we need to take blood samples. Heavens knows what he's been given to cause this. We need to get him upstairs to better assess his condition."

"When a stretcher gets here, Duck. This is a crime scene now." Gibbs stared at the heavy bandages encasing McGee's arm. "How bad is this?"

"I don't know, Jethro. Unfortunately, I was not aware of his difficulties. Mr. Palmer would be able to tell you more than I could. " The arrival of Tony and Ziva saved Jimmy from having to justify his detailed knowledge of McGee's condition.

"Probie? Oh, man, what did they do to you, buddy?" Tony squeezed past Gibbs and Ducky to stand next to Palmer, reaching out to press his hand against McGee's cheek, hoping to give comfort to the other man. He looked up at Palmer in surprise. "He's freezing."

"He's in shock, Tony. This isn't exactly proper post-op care."

Tony immediately took off his coat and draped it over McGee's upper body just as Balboa arrived with several more agents, a gurney and McGee's neurosurgeon in tow. The tense and rapid paced conversation between the surgeon, Ducky and Palmer was filled with too much medical jargon for any of the rest of them to follow.

At the first break in their conversation Palmer waved over the gurney. Needing to do something, Gibbs and Tony took it from the other agents and moved it closer to the bed. Once it was positioned, they shifted to help Palmer and the others lift Tim. The medical personnel was clustered around his torso, careful to keep his arm immobile and his airway clear, so the two agents supported his legs, Tony automatically straightening the hospital gown to preserve his friend's modesty.

Even though Ducky's arm was under Tim's neck, securely supporting his head, Ziva still laid her hands on the sides of his face, her thumbs stroking his cheeks as they lifted him. "You are safe now, my friend. We will allow no one else to harm you."

Once McGee was safely transferred and ready to be transported upstairs, Gibbs turned to Balboa. The other man knew exactly what Gibbs and his team needed. "Take care of McGee, my guys will process the scene and get the evidence back to Abby."

"Thanks, Mark." Gibbs smiled rarely, but this one was heartfelt. "I owe you."

Ducky handed over a vial of blood. "Tell Abby to run this first, please. We need to know exactly what drugs are in his system."

"We can determine that quicker, here."

"That may be the case, Dr. Morrison, but I guarantee you that our young Timothy did not wander down here on his own."

The neurosurgeon blushed under Ducky's glare. "Under the circumstances, I suppose an independent verification would be justified."

* * *

When word spread through the agency that McGee had been found, and under what conditions, the already focused investigation became even more intense. As soon as he briefed the SecNav once again, Vance went down to personally see what progress had been made. His first stop was MTAC, where Nikki Jardine was using the large screen to study the surveillance tapes from the hospital.

"What do we know so far?"

She jumped slightly, but recovered quickly. "Director Vance... we've confirmed that Agent McGee was wheeled into the recovery room at 09.35 this morning. The surveillance tapes don't show the back half of the recovery room so we can't prove which cubicle he was in, but we can rule out about half of them. There was a flurry of activity that moved off camera at approximately 10.05 and then an apparently dead body was removed twenty minutes later. The face was covered, but we're taking still shots of each patient as they're being brought into recovery, hoping to match one of them to one of the bodies downstairs."

"Since the call to Palmer's phone from McGee came in at 10.35, the timetable fits. Make sure to track the movements of the staff; let's see which one of them was spending the most time in that back corner where the cameras couldn't reach. " Vance looked closely at the image currently frozen on the screen, noting that the body language of one of the nurses just didn't seem to fit the circumstances if they'd just lost a patient.

Nikki nodded in understanding as the tech ran the tape back to the beginning. "Sir, have you heard anything about Tim's condition?"

"He's alive, Nikki, that's all we know." He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile before heading down to the lab.

The music was loud, with a bass that set his teeth on edge, but he knew that was the least of their problems. His third yell of her name got the lab rat to turn down the volume. "What do we have so far, Miss Sciuto?"

Abby looked frustrated. "Not much. It's a hospital recovery room, wearing gloves and head covers is the norm."

"No fingerprints?"

"No fingerprints, no stray hairs and so far, no DNA. I can prove that the phone Ziva found is McGee's and that the battery was removed less than a minute after his call to Palmer was disconnected, but that's about it. They brought me three containers of sharps and I'm testing all of them for what they contained. I'm also looking for possible patient DNA, but that would be only if the needle was injected directly into skin instead of the IV tube. I'm analyzing the blood sample from McGee, but that'll take at least another twenty minutes, and that's only if common substances are in his blood."

Vance was disappointed, but not surprised. "Keep at it, Abby, if anyone can find something, it will be you. Let Dr. Mallard know the second you have the results back on McGee's blood."

She nodded, chewing on her lower lip. "Ziva said he's still unconscious. That's not good, Leon."

"It's better than dead, Miss Sciuto."

* * *

Gibbs leaned against the wall, cup in hand, as he watched Ducky and Dr. Morrison examine McGee again. The random twitching had started a few minutes earlier, and Gibbs could see the worry in his old friend's eyes. Morrison left, saying that he was going to push the lab for the blood test results, as Ducky joined Gibbs.

"What's happening to him, Duck?"

"I don't know, Jethro. He's showing signs of mycolonus or possibly distonia, which is most distressing."

"In English?"

"Neurological issues, if it's distonia, then this twitch is likely permanent."

"Damn." Gibbs rubbed his mouth as he watched another spasm twist McGee's body. "Is this from the surgery or whatever was done to him later?"

"Both, neither, a combination of several things. Right now we just don't know. It could possibly stop in the next few hours. Until we know more, let's not borrow trouble, Jethro."

"Easier said than done, Ducky." He had more to say, but the door opened to admit Tony and Ziva, both carrying a stack of files.

"Hey, Boss, how's he doing?" Tony barely gave Gibbs and Ducky a nod before moving to stand next to the bed, frowning at the tangled bedding and his still unconscious teammate.

"Any word from Abby about what McGee was drugged with?"

It was not the response they wanted and they exchanged a look before Ziva spoke up. "I will call and find out." She added her stack of files to Tony's before slipping out the door. After she left, Tony set the combined stack on one of the nearby chairs and bent down to better look at his friend.

"Is he starting to come around, is that why he's so restless?" Tony reached out to straighten the blankets and instead caught McGee's right hand when his body suddenly convulsed. "What's wrong with him?"

Ducky glanced at both men, sighing. He'd hoped to not alarm them until more was known. Unfortunately, Tony, like his mentor, was like a dog with a bone, just like the man they were so worried about. "As I was starting to tell Jethro earlier, he is possibly suffering from a form of mycolonus, which is the random twitching you're seeing. Timothy's case is a bit more severe than what is common, but it's not unheard of."

"What's causing it?"

"It's possible that it's a neurological issue, Tony, but more than likely it's a reaction to the unknown drugs in his system."

Tony thought about what Ducky had said as he studied his friend. His left arm had been carefully strapped against his torso, probably to protect the fragile repairs from the violent tremors. Gibbs spoke up before Tony could question the Scotsman further.

"What about the other condition you said could have?"

"Distonia is a less likely cause, as I said. I also said we shouldn't borrow trouble, Jethro. Let's wait until we have an accurate assessment of what medications are in his bloodstream before we start to panic."

* * *

"Yes, Pamela?" Vance rubbed his forehead as he answered the intercom. He had just set the phone down from yet another call from the SecNav, so it couldn't be the man calling back for yet another update.

Her voice was slightly distorted over the older intercom. Sir, Colonel Harden's wife is on line three. Apparently her husband's body was brought in from Bethesda and she's demanding that it be released to the funeral home immediately.

"Thank you, Pamela, I'll take care of it." Sighing, Vance took a deep breath before he picked up the phone.

"Mrs. Harden, this is Director Vance."

_Director, I want my husband's body released immediately. Your agency has no right to interfere in our family's lives._

"Ma'am, I understand how difficult this is and we're not trying to make it any more painful for any of the families involved, but unfortunately it is necessary to investigate several of the deaths that have occurred at Bethesda, and regretfully, your husband's is one of them. It would be much quicker if you would authorize the release of his medical records, however." Vance held his breath, the last three families had quickly agreed to the release of the records.

_His medical records? Haven't you people taken enough from us? You'll be hearing from my lawyer._

He just managed to pull the phone away from his ear before she slammed her end down. Vance dropped the hand piece down in the cradle before hitting the speaker phone button and then dialing Autopsy. Palmer had stayed aboard the Yard, prepping and sorting the bodies for the massive run of autopsies later that day. Jimmy picked up on the third ring and Vance didn't mince words.

"How far down the list is a Colonel Harden? His wife is already starting to cause problems."

_Really? Actually I have his body scheduled for the first autopsy as soon as Dr. Mallard returns from Bethesda. _

"Any particular reason?"

_Of the three bodies whose time of death fit the closest with the timetable, his had the most recent surgical incision_.

"Good call, Palmer, keep me informed. The widow is refusing to let us see the medical records and is already threatening us with her lawyer."

_I thought most of the families were cooperating, Sir?_

"All but her. Keep Dr. Mallard on track when he returns because I don't want a court order showing up before he's finished." Vance was already bracing himself for his next call to the SecNav as he disconnected the call.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - Thanks all, home from the hospital finally as he was released last night.**

* * *

Tony was still watching his partner when McGee's eyelids fluttered and partially opened. "McGee? Tim, buddy, you back with us?" Gibbs quickly moved up to stand at Tony's shoulder while Ducky went to the other side of the bed and started assessing him while Tony continued to speak. "Hey, how you doing? You gave us quite a scare."

Tim's eyes were open, but it was obvious that they weren't focusing yet as he looked around in confusion. "What happened? Where am I?" He tried to shift and became alarmed when he realized that he was unable to move his arm, the adrenalin helping to wake him up. "What's wrong with me? Am I... I'm in a hospital?"

"You don't remember?" Tony kept his voice calm as his eyes flickered up at Gibbs. The worry he saw on Gibbs' face matched his own. Before Tim could answer him, Ducky bent closer and started a more detailed examination. Tony and Gibbs moved out of the way just as Ziva and Dr. Morrison returned.

"Abby should have the results very soon, Gibbs. How is McGee?" Ziva leaned to look around Gibbs to where Morrison had joined Ducky. "He is awake, that is good, yes?"

"Awake, but doesn't remember anything. What does this do to the case, Boss?"

Gibbs shook his head at both of them. "McGee didn't wander down to that sub-basement on his own. He might not remember much right now, so we work the evidence until he does. Ducky, what's going on?" The other two agents were startled by the appearance of Dr. Mallard in back of Tony.

"As near as I can determine, his last clear memory is almost two months ago. His cognitive functions appear to be intact, so that's a positive sign." Ducky held his hands up, stalling the questions he could see on their faces. "He's been conscious for less than thirty minutes, give the lad some time. Hopefully Abby will have some news soon as the hospital's lab is several hours behind her."

"What's taking them so much longer?" Gibbs hated incompetence, especially when it affected one of his people. Dr. Morrison joined them in time to answer.

"Unfortunately, the lab here did not get the blood sample and needs another one. Don't worry, I'll be looking into that personally."

"You do that. Ziva, you're coming back to the Yard with me to start on the suspects. Ducky, need cause of deaths for our bodies. Tony, you stay here on protection duty. Two more agents will be stationed outside the door."

"Agent Gibbs, I assure you, my patient is safe here."

Other than a glare, Gibbs didn't dignify that comment with a response.

* * *

The second they arrived back in the yard, Gibbs' phone rang with Director Vance demanding an update, so the three of them took the elevator directly to the top floor. Vance met them at the door to his office. "Pamela, hold all my calls unless it's the SecNav again."

"Again?"

"You don't want to know, Gibbs." Vance waited until they were all seated around his desk. "First off, how is Agent McGee?"

Gibbs deferred to Ducky. "Timothy regained consciousness a short time ago, but he's lost a large chunk of memory, I'm afraid. Enough that he doesn't remember why he was having the surgery in the first place, let alone what happened in the recovery room."

Vance sat up straight. "Amnesia? Does he have a head injury?"

"His neurologist and I gave him a thorough evaluation, and there seems to be no indication of any assault. Dr. Morrison believes that it may be a case of post-operative cognitive dysfunction, but I don't agree with his diagnosis, at least not yet."

"Explain."

Ducky had had the same conversation with Gibbs on the way back. "If we are to believe Mr. Palmer and Agent DiNozzo, then he showed no loss of memory before he disappeared from the recovery room. POCD should have been evident the moment he was aware enough to communicate. I'm not ready to make a determination until his blood tests are finished."

"In the meantime, we may have a problem with the case." Vance wasn't happy to be bringing this up, but it couldn't be avoided. "Until McGee is able to give a statement, we have no evidence in regards to the murder. We can't even prove there was a murder. All we have is the possible assault and kidnapping of McGee. As soon as the families of those bodies downstairs start showing up with a lawyer, we'll be forced to release them. That is, unless we find something solid to tie one of those deaths into what happened to McGee."

Gibbs was not pleased with the developments. "How fast can you autopsy, Duck?"

Vance cut in before Ducky could say anything. "Start with Colonel Harden's body. His wife is already threatening the agency with legal action and Palmer tells me his body fits the timetable from McGee's call."

"Of course, Director, better safe that sorry; but I suspect that once Timothy's blood work is done we will have enough confirmation to stand up to a court order."

"And you would be right, Duckman." They all looked up as Abby bounced into the room waving a stack of print-outs. "But then, you're always right, even when..."

Gibbs didn't want her off on a tangent when so much was at stake. "Abs, results?"

"Propofol, close to a lethal dose." She handed the pages to Ducky. "As fast as it metabolizes in the bloodstream, the hospital lab probably won't find it by the time they get around to testing his blood."

"That's damn convenient." Gibbs looked over at Vance, who seemed to agree.

Ducky shook his head as he read through the lists of numbers and chemical notations. "Well, this does explain a great deal. Those in the medical profession often call Propofol the 'milk of amnesia'."

"So, it was given to him to cause the memory loss?"

"Most likely, Jethro, but we can't rule out a more lethal intent. His breathing was very shallow when he was found, a bit longer without medical assistance and we may not have had such a positive outcome. Propofol can also cause the myoclonus and dystonia that we were worried about. That's good, because it makes it less likely that the uncontrolled body movements are caused by neurological damage. I'll let Dr. Morrison know what has been found so that he can better monitor Timothy's recover and then I will start my own investigation with our guests downstairs."

* * *

"Hey, you going to stay with me this time?" Tony leaned over as McGee's head turned towards the sound of him talking.

Tim frowned and groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He seemed more aware of his surroundings this time. "Sorry, man, I can't seem to stay awake."

"That's okay." Tony was staring at him. "Do you remember waking up before?"

"Yeah, I think so." The crease between his eyes deepened as he thought. "Gibbs was here?"

"That's right, Buddy, Gibbs was here, Ducky and Ziva too."

"Why?"

"They were worried about you, we all were."

"Why?" The repeated question alarmed Tony until he heard the rest. "Nobody worries about me."

It hurt to realize what his friend was really asking and he tried to reassure him. "Hey, we've always worried deep down, just not been good about showing it. When you were missing, Gibbs had every agency employee within fifty miles tearing the place apart looking for you."

"Missing?"

Tony wasn't sure how much to tell him. "What's the last thing you remember?" He watched while Tim struggled with his damaged memory.

"Umm, we were staking out Nathan Gaines."

"That's good, that's more recent of a memory than the last time you woke up."

"What happened to me?"

"We're not really sure, but we're going to find out. None of us are going to stop until we know what happened, until we know you're safe."

Tim was fading out again. "Why are you being so nice to me? Not dying, am I?"

Tony wasn't quick enough to answer before Tim was asleep again, but he answered anyway as he laid his hand on the blanket covered shoulder. "Things are going to change, I promise."

* * *

Ducky nodded encouragingly as he entered Autopsy. Jimmy had the first body prepped and ready for him. The younger man looked up and smiled. "Dr. Mallard, you're back. How's McGee doing?"

"Now that Abigail has determined what he was drugged with, I am much more confident about his chances for a full recovery, at least from that standpoint. I'm afraid I still don't know too much about the surgery itself." This time he gave Jimmy a stern look, "but that will have to wait until we deal with our guests."

Jimmy knew that at some point he'd be hearing about that from his mentor, but for now he kept on track. "I've already taken blood samples from each of the bodies and sent them up to Abby, and the bodies are prioritized by the likelihood that they are our mystery victim using their time of death and potential reason for hospitalization."

"Very good, Mr. Palmer." Ducky looked down at the body on the table. "Then you must be Colonel Harden. Let us see exactly what caused your demise." He paused, scalpel in hand. "You've gotten me off to an excellent start, Jimmy. Now, as trustworthy as Dr. Morrison appears to be, I trust you a great deal more, so I want you to go to the hospital and stay with Timothy. I know that Tony is there and will do everything in his power to keep him safe, but I'd feel better if you were there also to monitor his treatment."

"Of course, Dr. Mallard." Jimmy was beaming from not only the praise but the trust as he pulled off his gloves. "Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave?"

Ducky smiled as he shooed Jimmy out the door. "We're fine. You go on while the Colonel and I get better acquainted."


	5. Chapter 5

Nikki looked up as Vance lead Gibbs and Ziva into MTAC. A large, hand drawn map of the recovery room was pinned up on the side wall and one of the techs was adding names to the beds inked onto the paper.

"It looks like you're making progress, why don't you bring Gibbs up to speed with what you've been working on."

"Of course, Director." Nikki moved closer to the wall with a stack of photos in her hands. "We've been analyzing the security footage from both the recovery room and the doorway and we noticed that there is one section of the room that none of the cameras reach."

"Convenient." Ziva stared at the corner of the map that Nikki was pointing at. "Three beds are in that section and the middle cubicle is where I found McGee's phone."

"I know. We've identified the patients in the other beds using photo recognition and by process of elimination, we've determined that two of the three mystery patients were McGee and a Lieutenant Tyler Johnson."

"And the third?" Gibbs looked around as he listened. The room was filled with both the normal staff of MTAC and a variety of men and women from the cybercrimes unit, each tracking one individual patient from their arrival on the floor to their transfer out of recovery.

"See for yourself." Nikki handed the photos to Gibbs, explaining as he, Ziva and Vance looked through them. "The head nurse met this patient at the elevator and personally escorted his bed into recovery while managing to keep between him and every security camera in the place."

Gibbs stared at the now familiar platinum blonde hair. "This was well planned out."

"I believe so, Agent Gibbs. None of the other nurses disappeared into that section of the room until the apparent emergency at 10.05, so it looks like she was the only one to take care of those patients."

Steely blue eyes narrowed as he visualized exactly how it had gone down. "Can you tell me which nurse cared for each of the rest of the patients?"

Obviously anticipating the question, Nikki held out her hand and tapped the map, drawing their attention to circled numbers next to each of the beds and the list of nurses at the bottom of the page, each with an assigned number. Before she could say anything, one of the techs squeezed past her to add several more notations.

"That's the last of the footage, Agent Jardine. We'll have all the information uploaded momentarily, and then Agent Gibbs can print a clean copy." Behind them, Vance just rolled his eyes as Gibbs took the hastily scribbled rough copy from the wall.

"Thanks, but I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy." He looked closely at the names at the bottom of the page, mentally comparing them to the employee files he'd scanned while Ziva drove them back. "We'll start with Lisa Duncan."

* * *

"Hey Tony, how's he doing?" Palmer was whispering, hoping to not wake the sleeping man, as he held up a bag of food. DiNozzo grinned at the offering and with a jerk of his head sent Palmer over by the window. Tony joined him and eagerly took the sandwich from the bag.

"Thanks, Jimmy, I was starving."

"Sorry it's not pizza, but I thought the smell would be too strong." Jimmy dug out the second sandwich before tossing a bag of chips to Tony.

It had been an underhand toss and easy to catch, but DiNozzo still had to put the ham sandwich down to open the chips. "Yeah, that probably wouldn't help, he was pretty nauseous the last time he woke up."

Jimmy scanned over the medical chart. "I see that. It's pretty common after being under anesthesia for that long. He was supposed to have been given a first round of anti-nausea meds about the time he went missing. Luckily he didn't get them because the interaction between those meds and the massive amount of Propofol probably would have been fatal."

Tony looked up. "But it's been long enough now, right?"

"Oh, yeah, it's out of his bloodstream now." Palmer juggled the chart and his food as he sat down, feeling guilty for alarming his friend. "It will take a while before the effects wear off, but it won't react with any other medications now."

"I'm glad we have your approval." Dr. Morrison walked in, followed by two nurses. He was smiling slightly, having been informed by Ducky that Palmer would be part of the protection detail. After the lab fiasco with the first blood sample, he had decided not to argue. Instead, he waved Palmer over to join him as he examined McGee.

The poking and prodding caused the sleepy green eyes to open, which was part of the intent. "Agent McGee, how are you feeling?"

"I... I can't move my arm."

Dr. Morrison tried to reassure him. "That's to be expected, we're using a nerve block while it heals." He hesitated, not knowing how much the others in the room knew about the original injury. Tony realized the problem and stepped in, telling Tim more of what had happened to him and also letting Dr. Morrison know that Tim had confided in him – eventually.

"The scar tissue from the dog bite started to put pressure on one of the nerves, Tim. Dr. Morrison operated to clean it up." He waited while McGee's forehead creased in thought.

"Gormley?"

"Yeah, he grabbed you, yanked you around by the arm and made it worse." Tony smiled as another memory clicked into place for the junior agent, but his happiness was short-lived.

"I told you?"

"Well, kind of. The point is that you are starting to remember more and that's a good thing." Even Dr. Morrison had to laugh at the hopeful expression on DiNozzo's face.

"Yes, that is a good thing, so let's see if this progress means you're feeling better. How about seeing if you can sit up?"

With Tony at one side and Palmer at the other, they soon had McGee semi-upright. While the nurse raised the bed up Tony rubbed his back, coaxing him through the dizziness and nausea the movement caused.

* * *

Needing to keep a hands on approach, Vance joined Gibbs and Ziva as they stopped in the lab on their way to interrogation. Gibbs spoke up over the sound of the music. "Abs, how soon before you have results?"

Startled, she spun around before hitting the remote for the music. "Hey, Gibbs, I have some results, just not enough to put things together." She brought up a spread sheet on the largest plasma in the lab. "See, I'm charting out which drugs were in which length of IV tubing, which drugs were in which needles from the sharps container and which needles were injected into the tubing and which needles went directly into skin. I'm also running every DNA sample we've recovered, plus the blood from the bodies. It would be quicker, but I've maxed out all my babies."

"Give me a list, Miss Sciuto, and I'll see if I can get some loaner equipment from another agency." Vance glanced around, making a mental note to have more tables brought in for the added equipment. "Do you need any additional manpower?"

To her credit, Abby thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, but a second Mass Spec would be awesome."

He was already dialing his phone as he turned to leave, but pointed a finger at her before he reached the door. "Loaners, Miss Sciuto, don't start naming anything."

* * *

Gibbs reviewed the files carefully before confirming which nurse to interrogate. Ziva raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as she brought the woman into Interrogation Room Two and left her for Gibbs. He stood at the two-way mirror, watching silently as Ziva joined him. When the woman began twisting the diamond ring on her left hand, he made his move, entering the room silently.

"So, were you in on it, or just an accessory after the fact, Lt. Duncan?"

"What? I haven't done anything wrong, sir, I'm just a nurse." She may not have done anything, but she couldn't look Gibbs in the eye either.

He let her squirm for a few more minutes. "Something was off about today, though, wasn't it?"

"She'd never been that possessive of a patient before."

"She, who?"

"Brenda..." Lisa looked down at her ring again. "Capt Brenda Andrews, she's in charge of Recovery. Please, I just finished nursing school this year and I'm supposed to get married next month... I don't want to get in trouble with my commanding officer."

"Just tell us the truth. Your CO would want you to be honest." Gibbs watched as fear and conscious battled across her face as she chewed her lip. Finally she nodded and took a deep breath.

"Sometimes Brenda takes a special interest in a patient. I didn't think anything about it at first, I mean she seemed to know the families involved so it didn't seem that odd, but a couple of weeks ago I saw one of the relatives give her money."

Gibbs was floored. "She was accepting money to give better care?" He looked over his shoulder, at the mirror, knowing that Ziva would already be on it.

"I think so, sir. We're not even supposed to take tips, but she's my direct supervisor." Lisa shrugged, not realizing what kind of a clue she was giving. "Brenda wouldn't let any of us even near the patient today, I never even saw his face until he coded. His family must have paid a lot to give him special care."

At this point Gibbs' questions would have been about what kind of special care they were paying for, but instead he spread out the diagram of the recovery room. "Show me which bed was the mystery patient's?" It wasn't a surprise when she pointed out the cubicle next to McGee's, nor was it a surprise when she picked out the picture of Colonel Harden when Gibbs laid out over a dozen photos of the bodies currently in Autopsy.

Dismissed, Lisa stopped at the door. "This isn't going to interfere with Brenda's trip is it? I mean she was just giving them a little extra care."

Gibbs let her open the door before he asked. "What trip?"

"Cancun, I heard her confirm her reservations this morning." She gave a wistful smile. It must be nice, Bobby and I are going to honeymoon at his grandparent's farm."

Ziva joined Gibbs and watched Lisa as another agent escorted her out. "I do not believe I was ever that young and innocent."

Gibbs had to smirk at her words. "I sure as heck wasn't. Let me know when you have something on Capt Andrews' financial records and start looking into the grieving widow. Let's see if we can figure out what kind of care she was willing to pay for. I'll let the Director know what we've found."

* * *

"Okay Tim, let's see how you do at standing." Dr. Morrison seemed encouraged by his last exam of the young man. With one arm strapped tightly against his body Tim had trouble pulling himself upright so Tony reached out to take his right hand and froze.

"Tony?"

Instead of answering his friend, Tony snapped his fingers and pointed at his backpack. Palmer grabbed the bag as he peered over DiNozzo's shoulder. "How'd we miss that?"

Confused, Tim looked down at his hand, noting for the first time the broken, jagged nail. "When did that happen? I'm usually pretty careful about..."

"Yeah, well," A week ago, Tony would have made a joke about McGee's usually well manicured nails. Today he was thrilled to see the damage. "It had to happen when you were fighting with your attacker. If' we're lucky, there will be..." His voice trailed off as he accepted the needed supplies from Palmer, but McGee understood as he held his hand out for Tony to scrape under the torn nail, breathing out his answer.

"DNA... Wait, what attacker?"

* * *

"So you're telling me that we've got a whole lot of suspicion and circumstantial evidence, but not a shred of solid evidence against our suspect, no confirmed murder victim and a witness that can't remember."

"That's it in a nutshell, Leon. Ducky is still working on the most likely body and Ziva is looking into the nurse's background and financials, seeing if anything leads back to the wife." Gibbs glared at his empty coffee cup, almost desperate enough to refill it from the break room.

Vance leaned back and rubbed the sides of his face. "SecNav and the hospital administrator are not going to like this one bit. It's bad enough that we're accusing one of their nurses of accepting money from patient's families. If your theory is right, I don't have to tell you what kind of fallout there will be. Just keep me in the loop, I don't want to be blindsided when this all goes down."

Gibbs ignored the obvious dismissal when Vance returned to the paperwork on his desk. Vance pretended to read the page for another minute before sighing and putting the papers back down, waiting for him to speak. "You knew about McGee's surgery."

"I signed off on the paperwork."

"Paperwork that should have gone to me, first."

"You suggesting that I should have denied a medically necessary procedure because he didn't follow protocol?"

"Of course not." Gibbs took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. "He didn't trust me enough to come to me."

"And you have a problem with that?"

"Hell, yes, I have a problem with that."

"So then, fix it." When Gibbs glared at him, Vance again leaned back in his chair. "Look, Gibbs, he didn't tell me the reasons he couldn't go to you, but it wasn't hard enough to figure out and the last I heard, you were a pretty good investigator. What is it you tell your people?"

Gibbs hated it when his own words were turned back against him, but he had to admit Vance had a point. "Follow the evidence." He knew he was dangerously close to whining. "DiNozzo knows, so does Palmer."

"Be thankful for that, he might not have survived otherwise."


	6. Chapter 6

"Tell me you've got something, Ducky?" Having a theory and a suspect, Gibbs wanted to prove it and put this case, and all its complications, to bed so he could focus on what was wrong with his team.

Ducky was staring at the body on the table, a troubled look on his face. "Colonel Harden bled to death, Jethro, but I haven't a clue how it wasn't caught in time."

"Talk me through it, Duck."

"Very well," Ducky pointed out the fresh surgical cut on the victim's chest, overlaid with the y-incision from the autopsy. "Colonel Harden had a triple bypass sometime early this morning, but one of the repaired arteries did not hold, yet the sutures look fine."

"He was bleeding into his chest cavity?"

"Well, yes, but the moment his blood pressure started to drop, it should have been caught. Not just caught, but alarms should have been going off. There's no indication that anything was amiss until his blood volume was so low that it interfered with his heart rate. At that point, CPR was started, which literally squeezed the last of the blood out of his veins."

"Accident or murder?"

"At this point I can't prove either, I'm afraid. Hopefully Abigail has his blood work done and can shed some light on the subject." Ducky walked over the videophone. "Abby, my dear, any results on Colonel Harden?"

_Hey, Ducky, some weird stuff in the Colonel's blood._

Gibbs leaned over Ducky's shoulder. "Define weird."

_Gibbs, you haven't come seen me in ages._

"Been kinda busy, Abs. What ya' got?"

_Massive amounts of Heparin and Dopamine, I'm sending over the print-out now._

"Oh, my." Ducky's eyes widened as he looked at the results. "Abby, can you determine exactly when those drugs were administered?" They watched her scrunch her forehead as she thought about it.

_If the drugs were given at least an hour prior to death, I should be able to detect it when I run the tissue samples, right now I've just been working on the blood samples._

Gibbs recognized the expression on Ducky's face and knew those tissue samples were important. "Tissue samples are on the top of the list, Abs. Need it ASAP." When she nodded, he turned away to hear Ducky's theory, but she wasn't done.

_Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs._

"What is it, Abby?"

_Where's Jethro?_

"What?"

_Jethro, what arrangements did McGee make for Jethro?_

"Abby, I didn't even know McGee was going to be in the hospital, how would I know where the dog is?"

_But..._

"Abby, the surgery was planned. It's McGee, I'm sure he planned everything out. Now, get busy on those tissue samples." This time he reached out and turned off the screen. "Talk to me, Ducky. What do those drugs do to the case?"

Ducky looked disturbed by the findings. "Heparin is used to both thin the blood and break up blood clots."

"That what caused him to bleed out?"

"More than likely, yes, but it's the high levels of dopamine that is the most troubling." When Gibbs raised an eyebrow as a silent question, Ducky continued. "It's used to increase blood pressure in a crisis situation, but the man had heart surgery, the last thing he needed was an increase in blood pressure. A sudden drop in blood pressure should have suggested a hemorrhage and the last thing that man needed was either of those drugs in that high of a dosage. One thing I do know is that was a deadly combination. Unfortunately, without knowing when the drugs were given, there's no way to determine if this was deliberate or gross negligence."

"It was deliberate."

"Your gut telling you that, Jethro?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Don't need my gut, I've got McGee. He may not remember what he saw, but whatever it was, it was enough to convince him. That's good enough for me."

* * *

"How is he?" Ziva quietly closed the door behind her. Tony was already on his feet.

"Sleeping now, thanks for getting here so quick." Behind him Palmer nodded to her but didn't interrupt them. "I want to get these new samples back to Abby. Let's see just who Probie was fighting."

"Tell Gibbs I will return after Agent Klein arrives to stay with McGee."

Tony stood and pulled on his coat. Originally, he'd called for an agent to pick up the sample, but Ziva had sounded distressed that she'd not been able to spend any time with their friend so he didn't argue when she offered to trade places with him. Before he was at the door, Ziva had taken the chair and was leaning close, watching McGee sleep.

* * *

Gibbs slammed the door when he entered the interrogation room, but Capt. Brenda Andrews didn't even flinch. Knowing she was going to be a tough nut to crack, he sat at the table, watching her for almost ten minutes before he spoke. "Colonel Harden shouldn't have died."

She didn't seem surprised he knew which patient to focus on. "In an ideal world, Agent Gibbs, no patient would ever die."

"That so?"

"In an ideal world, we would have enough nurses and enough time to give proper care to every patient."

"So, it was all a mistake, because you were so... busy?"

Brenda smiled, but her eyes were still cold. "It happens more than one might imagine. As tragic as it might be, it's not criminal. I'm sure the Colonel's wife is already discussing her options with a lawyer, but malpractice is not under NCIS's jurisdiction. Now, as fun as this has been..." She moved to stand, but Gibbs beat her to the punch, leaning over her.

"Before you go, let's talk about the care Timothy McGee received. Do you always store your patients in the basement?" She stiffened slightly, but the neutral expression on her face never wavered.

"What an odd thing to ask, Agent Gibbs, but I wouldn't know what happens when a patient is removed from the recovery unit. They're supposed to be moved to the ward, but that's not my responsibility."

This time Gibbs let her stand, but now there were two MP's standing in the doorway. Gibbs gave her a smile as cold as the one that had just slipped off her face. "I believe your commanding officer has some questions for you. Something about conduct unbecoming... I'm sure we'll be talking again soon after he's done with you, Captain Andrews." After she was taken away, Gibbs closed his eyes and rubbed at his face, not opening his eyes until he heard the door open again.

Vance leaned against the door frame. "Military justice can only hold her for so long. If we don't have a way to prove it was murder by then, we'll have to release her. I do not want this woman to walk, Gibbs."

"She won't." Gibbs didn't say anything else as he left the interrogation room and returned upstairs to find Tony instead of Ziva in the squad room. Tony recognized the expression and rushed to explain.

"McGee got a piece of his attacker, we think. At least there was DNA under one of his nails. I brought it back to Abby and Ziva is with McGee."

Gibbs froze as he started to remember some details from the video footage.

"Boss?"

"DNA?"

"Yeah, maybe from when they fought over the phone."

Gibbs was already on the move and by the time DiNozzo caught up with him, they were in MTAC, Gibbs barking orders to one of the techs. "Pull up the footage from when the mystery patient arrived." As soon as it was up on the screen, Gibbs asked for a still shot to be grabbed of the nurse. DiNozzo stared at the image.

"Wasn't she..."

"Yeah." Gibbs leaned over the tech, looking closely at the screen. "Now, fast forward to when we arrived."

Once the two images were side by side, the one difference was apparent. Captain Andrews had changed from a short sleeved uniform to a long sleeved one immediately after the Colonel's death. A quick phone call to the MP in charge confirmed a scratch on her right arm, but she was no longer talking to anyone. Everything combined was enough circumstantial evidence for a warrant and Capt Brenda Andrews was on her way back to the Yard, being compelled to provide a DNA sample.

* * *

"Welcome back, sleepyhead."

"Ziva?" Still half asleep, McGee tried to raise his left hand to rub his face before remembering that it was strapped down.

"How are you feeling, McGee? You do look better than when we found you." She brushed his hair back, and then seemed embarrassed by her actions.

"I still don't understand what happened. Tony said I was attacked, but I was already in the hospital when it happened." McGee watched Ziva's expression as she debated what to tell him. "Ziva, please, what's going on?"

Glancing over at Palmer before coming to a decision, Ziva nodded to herself before speaking. "We believe you witnessed a crime while in the recovery room. You were given drugs to cause amnesia and then left down in the basement, in a lesser used hallway. Luckily we found you before it became life threatening."

"A crime? I saw a crime being committed? What happened?"

Ziva smoothed the blanket over McGee. "Since more of your memory is returning, perhaps we should not speak of the details as to not taint any memories you may regain."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Is that why you and Tony are taking turns being here, am I in danger?" Ziva froze, her hand on his shoulder.

"We want to keep you safe, but we are also worried about you. Tony and Palmer may know more about why you had surgery, but I do not and I do not understand why you felt necessary to hide it."

McGee looked away. "I'm sorry, Ziva, but it seemed like my problems were just an annoyance to the rest of the team."

"No, McGee. If we made you feel that way, then it is I who is sorry."


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n - head*desk, head*desk. Eighteen hours after being discharged from the hospital, he leaves for an out of town rehearsal. I'm not sure that's what the doctor meant when she said to take it easy until he's fully recovered. Sigh, do all young men think they're indestructible?**

* * *

DiNozzo seemed agitated when he moved to stand in front of Gibbs' desk. "Scuttlebutt says that all was not happy in the Harden marriage."

Gibbs wasn't surprised, but that was still a big jump to murder. "Most unhappy marriages end in divorce, any idea why this one didn't?"

"Apparently, the Colonel inherited five million dollars last year and the wife was not happy that he never mentioned his family's money before she signed a prenuptial agreement. In a divorce, she walks away with less than twenty grand, but as his grieving widow..." Tony let his voice fade off, knowing that Gibbs would put the pieces together.

"That's one heck of a motive. Have you found a connection between her and our nurse?"

"Not yet, Boss. The guys in cybercrimes are helping with that part of the search."

"Keep on it with them then, and see how Abby's doing with the DNA match." When Tony didn't move back to his desk, Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Something else on your mind, DiNozzo?"

"Just thinking I should get the head slap now, save some time." It was almost a challenge.

Gibbs shook his head. "I'm not mad because McGee confided in you."

"No, but I'm probably going to be yelling at Abby in a few minutes." While waiting for Ziva to arrive at the hospital, he and McGee had come to an understanding. He wouldn't tell Gibbs, unless Gibbs asked, and now that they were alone Tony was determined to make sure Gibbs asked the right questions.

"Why?" Gibbs couldn't remember Tony ever raising his voice to the Goth, but something had driven McGee to hide his pain, something that DiNozzo had discovered.

"Has she asked you about how McGee is doing?"

"Not lately, but she's been pretty busy with the lab work."

"Busy with the lab work, but she still had enough time to call every dog kennel within fifty miles of Silver Spring and not call once about McGee." Tony returned to his desk and pulled a stack of papers out of the bottom drawer. "I got Tim to give me these last night before he left."

Gibbs started looking through the pages Tony dumped on his desk. Emails from Abby to McGee, filled with lists of dog spas, dog groomers, dog toys, the prices hand written in McGee's neat handwriting, each more elaborate and expensive than the page before. "Are you kidding me? Two hundred and forty dollars for a wall mounted dog bowl, one hundred and ninety four dollars for a dog rain coat?" Gibbs couldn't believe what he was reading as he moved on to the next page. "Exfoliating treatments at ninety dollars a pop, cream rinses from the south of France for another fifty? He's not actually spending all this on that dog, is he?"

Seeing Gibbs' reaction relaxed Tony just a bit. "Boss, with the hours we work, the doggie day care was costing him more than the rent on his apartment."

"Was?"

Tony sat on the corner of Gibbs' desk and lowered his voice. "He never wanted the dog, Boss, you know that. Abby bullied and pushed until he didn't have a choice. He did the best he could, but a trained dog like that needs an owner that can devote a lot of time to it."

"Just tell me that he found Jethro a good home."

"A family with a couple of kids to spoil him rotten. There's a few acres to run around in and he's happy as a lark. He's actually been trained as a companion dog for their handicapped son. Jethro's been with them for a couple of months now."

"Months? But Abby..."

"Just sends these lists of things she thinks McGee should buy for the dog. She hasn't been around to see the dog or help with him since the weekend McGee took him home. All this time, his arm never healed properly and Abby is still punishing him for defending himself. It's not right, Boss, it's just not right."

"No, it's not." Gibbs leaned back in his chair, staring up through the skylight. "That's why he didn't tell any of us about him needing surgery?"

"Yeah. Between her treatment of him and none of us taking his problems seriously, he really felt like he had to go it alone."

"Dammit." Gibbs paused before continuing, the worry apparent in his voice. "His arm, how bad is it?"

"Best case, it heals up completely and he retains full function of his hand."

The older man was almost afraid to ask. "And worst case?" The look on the younger man's gave him the answer. "Career ending?"

"Yeah."

Decision made, Gibbs stood, gathering the papers. "On second thought, I'll go check with Abby. You stay on the connection between the nurse and our merry widow."

* * *

Vance was coming out of the lab when Gibbs stepped off the elevator. "Extra lab equipment is here and set up."

"Good." Gibbs sounded less than pleased and Vance gave him a closer look.

"Looks like you figured out what's wrong with your team."

Gibbs shook the pages at him. "How much did you know about this?"

"McGee was pretty vague, but I've gotten rather good at reading between the lines when it comes to your team. Is Miss Sciuto about to receive her first ever head slap?"

"Turned over my knee is more like it." Gibbs didn't wait for a response, not stopping until he was standing behind Abby in the lab, watching as she loaded the last of the samples in the borrowed machines. She turned and jumped in surprise.

"Gibbs, I didn't hear you come in."

"Uh uh."

Suddenly nervous as he glared at her, she started to babble. "I'm running the DNA from the sample Tony brought back against the sample we got from Capt. Andrews, but it's going to take until morning. I've also got DNA from the needle covers. They were so careful to wear gloves, but somebody bit down on the covers when they pulled them off the needles, probably because they didn't have a free hand and..."

"You still calling kennels?"

"I gave him a list of kennels, Gibbs. Why didn't he use one of those?"

Gibbs started laying the pages down in front of her. "You mean these lists?" For a moment she looked unsure and he pressed his advantage. "Add them up."

"What?"

He pointed to four pages, from four consecutive weeks. "It was a simple request. Add up the amounts, tell me exactly how much money you expected McGee to spend on the dog in one month."

"I didn't look at the prices very closely."

Gibbs crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. "Don't start lying to me now, Abby. You sent him the links, obviously you read the details. " He stood next to her as she meekly ran the numbers. He'd skimmed the prices on his way down and knew the cheapest weekly list was just under one thousand dollars, the most expensive, a little over three.

When the total showed on the computer screen, Abby wouldn't look at it, nor at Gibbs. Behind her, Gibbs shook his head. "You have a rather inflated opinion of what field agents are paid, Abby, but it's not really about the dog, is it? Just can't see him having his nails done every week like some show Poodle. How long are you going to keep punishing McGee?"

"But Gibbs, he shot Jethro."

"No, Abby, he shot a violent, drugged dog that was trying to kill him. He defended himself just enough to stop the attack. The dog was recovered enough to be dancing with you just a few hours later. It's been a year and a half and McGee's still needing medical treatment for his injuries. Just who got the worst end of the deal?"

She was staring at her feet. "Timmy did."

"But you still expect him to financially destroy himself supporting the dog like this?"

"Jethro needs him."

"Does he? The Navy had another trainer ready for him, but you conned me into forcing them into releasing him because you wanted him so bad. Turned out you didn't have permission to have a dog in your apartment, isn't that right?"

A silent nod was his only answer.

"You could have broken the lease on your apartment and moved to someplace that allowed pets, right?"

This time she did look up. "But that would have..."

"What? Been too much work? Inconvenient? Expensive? But you expected McGee to totally turn his life upside down while he was still suffering, and all for a dog you lost interest in pretty darn quick."

"That's really mean, Gibbs."

"Truth hurts sometimes, Abs, doesn't make it any less true." He left the printouts on her table and turned to leave. She waited until he was at the door.

"Gibbs, where is Jethro?"

He hadn't planned on telling her, but maybe it would make his point. "Jethro is now a companion dog for a handicapped little boy, with a family that cherishes them both. It sounds like McGee found him the perfect solution."

* * *

Tim blinked, slowly remembering that he had to use his right hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Daylight was just starting to creep through the window, softly illuminating his hospital room. It was too early for breakfast, so he decided that going back to sleep was his best option. Just before he closed his eyes, he turned to see who his current guard was.

"Boss?"

Half awake, Tim tried to sit up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "It's still early, McGee, go back to sleep." The hand moved from his shoulder to his forehead, the warm pressure comforting and relaxing, the encroaching sleep slurring his words.

"Sorry... sorry for all the trouble, Boss."

"No, Tim, I'm the one that should be sorry." That woke Tim up completely, but he laid still while he listened. Gibbs was looking at the heavy bandages and shaking his head. "I made you drive back to the Yard after you'd been mauled and I ordered you to transport your attacker. You even had to drive yourself to the hospital. It wasn't right, but I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that you were injured."

"You asked me if I was okay."

Gibbs had a sad smile as he looked into the sleepy green eyes. "I'm the team leader, McGee, it's my responsibility to make sure. I let you down, and then I let Abby run roughshod over you, and not just about the dog."

Tim hated the look of guilt he saw on the older man's face and struggled to stay awake. "Just the way she is, Boss. Not your fault."

The corner of Gibbs' mouth twitched. Usually when he gave an apology, the recipient was too stunned to say anything. Instead, he couldn't get McGee to stop arguing. "I should have stepped in when she forced you to take the dog."

Now wide awake, Tim picked at the edge of the blanket with his good hand. "What happened to me wasn't really Jethro's fault. He..."

When McGee's voice trailed off, Gibbs let him know that he now knew. "You found him a good home. She has no right to complain with what you did." Watching the younger man's shoulders suddenly sag, Gibbs knew how heavily the fear of disappointment weighed on him.

"He... he was a good dog, but it wasn't fair to make him spend so much time at day care or kennels. I've known Gary and Karen since grad school. They were on a waiting list to get a service dog for their epileptic son. With his background as a drug detection dog, it only took a few days for Jethro to learn to recognize an oncoming seizure and what to do. Robby's eight and this is his first chance at just being a kid."

Gibbs was surprised to find himself choking up just a little. "Sounds like you did a good thing for both Jethro and his new family." The arrival of Palmer saved him from saying more, so he changed the subject, patting McGee's good arm as he stood. "Palmer is going to stay with you while I check in at the office. I'll be back when they release you later."

"It's okay, Boss, Jimmy can give me a ride home."

"Palmer doesn't have a key to my house, McGee." He bent down and tapped the top of Tim's head. "You're staying at my place for a few days until you've recovered more."

"Boss?"

A sad look crossed Gibbs' face. "You're a member of my team, Tim. That's where you kids come when you're hurt. Tony's going to pack you some clothes from your apartment, so if there's anything else from there you need, let him know. I'll see you in a few hours."

Tim watched him leave before turning to Palmer, a questioning look on his face. Palmer just shrugged. "It really scared everybody when you went missing and they didn't know what was wrong with you or what happened."


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n - Thanks for all the reviews, you guys really liked the last chapter. The question was raised about a confrontation between McGee and Abby over the dog and what kind of punishment she will be getting. McGee is such a gentleman, too much of a gentleman where Abby's concerned, but he's probably not going to change. As far as punishment, sometimes it's not what's done to you, but what you miss out on. Remember that as this case draws the rest of the team closer.**

* * *

True to his word, Gibbs arrived less than an hour after Dr. Morrison pronounced him ready to leave the hospital, Ducky in tow. While Ducky tracked down the doctor, Gibbs listened carefully to the aftercare instructions from the nurse as he watched her help McGee into a shirt and strap his arm back into place. When she was finished, Gibbs bent down to tie his shoes, much to Tim's embarrassment.

"Let's get out of here, McGee."

"Sure, Boss." He waited until Ducky joined them and they were in the car before asking the question he really wanted answered. "What's going on with the case?"

Ducky tutted disapprovingly, but Gibbs had been expecting the question. "DNA proves that our suspect is the person you struggled with."

"Really?"

"Yep, and we can also tie her to the syringe used to dose you. That proves intent."

McGee was glad to hear that. "Have you tied her to the murder?"

"Not exactly. Malpractice, yes, but nothing to prove it was deliberate. DiNozzo and the cyber-geeks are still trying to find a connection between the nurse and the widow."

"Will one of them roll over on the other?"

Gibbs had gotten the same question from Vance. "We have absolutely nothing on the widow except motive and I'm not ready to cut a deal with the nurse. That drug overdose almost killed you, and I'm not letting her walk on that just to get a confession on Harden's murder."

* * *

"Got anything for me yet, Harvey?" Tony leaned against the wall in the crowded sub-basement.

Harvey Miller looked up, pushing his glasses further up on his nose. "No, Sir, Agent DiNozzo, sir. I even looked under Mrs Harden's maiden name. Anything more complex, I usually ask Agent McGee. He's going to be able to come back isn't he? I mean his arm is going to heal?"

Tony reached out and patted Harvey on the back. "I hope so, man, I hope so."

* * *

"McGee?"

Tim blinked and took in his surroundings. He had been asleep, but remembered Gibbs and Ducky getting him in the house and tucked into bed. Now Gibbs was standing in the doorway with a gentle expression and a soft tone.

"You need to eat. Up to sitting at the table, or do you want me to bring in a tray?"

"Umm..." He wasn't used to this solicitous version of Gibbs. "I can get up, Boss." He was less stable on his feet than he was willing to admit, but with Gibbs at his elbow, he made it safely to the door of the bathroom.

"Holler if you need help."

By the time McGee was washed up and at the table he was trembling with exhaustion as Gibbs pulled two steaks off the fireplace. He remembered Tony talking about the cowboy style steaks their boss was known for. Handling a steak one handed was something he wasn't too sure about, but Gibbs sat at the table with both plates and carefully cut one of the steaks into bite sized pieces before moving the plate in front of McGee. Tim knew he was bright red.

"Thanks, Boss."

"It's not a problem, Tim." He looked up at his agent and raised an eyebrow. "Am I going to have to beat that into your skull?"

"Sorry."

Gibbs let the apology go, shaking his head. "If you feel up to it tomorrow, DiNozzo said that Harvey could use some help. Maybe call and talk him through his search?"

McGee hastily chewed and swallowed, letting out a small moan at the flavor of the meat. "Sure, Boss, what's he working on?"

"Helping DiNozzo try to connect the nurse and Mrs. Harden. They've been working at it all afternoon. Those two ladies really covered their tracks."

Tim speared another piece of meat as he thought about it. "Have they found any common thread? Had the Colonel been a patient at Bethesda before?" Gibbs stopped, mid-bite.

"Why would it matter if he'd been a patient before? What are you thinking?"

"This was planned, right?" Gibbs nodded and waited. "Well, Mrs. Harden didn't just arrive at admitting and start asking for somebody to kill her husband, so how did they connect up?"

"Good question." Behind him, Gibbs heard the front door opening and called out. "What about it, DiNozzo? Has anyone found the original connection between Capt Andrews and Mrs. Harden?"

"Umm, not yet." Tony stood in the entry, a grocery bag clutched in his hands. "We've gone back ten years and haven't found anything yet. Maybe the big payoff is waiting for Harden's estate to be settled."

"She's already got a trip planned. That money had to come from somewhere."

"I know, Boss." Tony came the rest of the way in and sat at the table, handing over the bag. "However they did it, they were good at covering it up." He handed a tub of ice cream to Gibbs. "Harvey is good, but he doesn't have the instincts of a field agent."

"McGee's going to give him some pointers in the morning." Gibbs frowned at the tub in his hand. "Vanilla, DiNozzo?"

"I am here." They all turned at the sound of Ziva's voice. As she came closer, they could smell the hot pie before they could see her. Gibbs grinned as she walked through the door into the dining room.

"Is that a cherry pie, Ziva?"

She smiled as she set the pie on the table. "Yes, it is. I made it from scratch using fresh cherries."

Gibbs stood to get more plates and a knife. "I'm surprised you were able to find fresh cherries this time of the year."

"Imported, but still fresh. That should make it good, right?" For a moment she looked unsure of herself.

"Absolutely." Tim smiled, remembering telling her about the cherry pies his grandmother used to make. "Fresh is always better, but most people use canned cherries so they don't have to pit the cherries."

"Pit the cherries?" Ziva looked back and forth between the three men.

At the other end of the table, Gibbs smirked as the knife hit something hard in the pie. "Just eat carefully, boys."

Four dessert plates, each with piles of cherry pits along the edge joined the two dinner plates on the kitchen counter while the four of them settled in to watch a movie. Tony had brought a collection of Leslie Nielsen comedies that had them laughing at Ziva as much as at the screen. Eventually, Gibbs called an end to the fun and herded McGee up the stairs, Tony at their heels.

After a quick detour to the bathroom, the bedroom beckoned. "Thanks, guys, this was fun." Tim smiled weakly as he sat on the bed, exhaustion winning out.

Tony helped him swing his legs up and pulled the covers over him. "Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" While Gibbs went to get a glass of water and Tim's pills, Tony leaned closer. "Are you starting to believe that you are just as valuable as the rest of us?"

Throat tight, Tim nodded just as Gibbs came back in. Tony took the bottles and checked the labels. "What, no pain pills?"

Ducky had explained it to him earlier. "Not until the nerve block is gone, which should be some time tomorrow. For now just antibiotics and a muscle relaxant." Gibbs waited until McGee had taken the pills before moving closer, tucking the blankets around his shoulders. "If you need anything, just call out. I'm a light sleeper."

Feeling a warmth that had nothing to do with the blankets, Tim nodded once again and closed his eyes, sleep already claiming him as he felt the brush of a hand over his head.


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n - This is it, the final chapter. Tim was probably too easy on Abby, but isn't he always? Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, they do make my day. I hope you're joining me for_ Left Behind_.**

* * *

It was still dark out when a touch on his shoulder roused him slightly. Tim could just make out Gibbs' features in the light spilling in from the hallway. "I'm on my way into the Yard. Palmer's here, in case you need anything."

Tim struggled to remember what he was supposed to do. "Harvey?"

The hand from last night was back on his head, keeping him still. "Later, call him later, but only if you feel up to it." Gibbs watched for a moment as McGee drifted back off before leaving the room.

Palmer met him in the kitchen, the younger man liberally lacing his own coffee with a great deal of cream and sugar, after he'd diluted it with warm water. Gibbs smirked, but didn't say anything as he poured his own cup and started drinking, it – straight, strong and hot. "I saw there were eggs in the refrigerator, Agent Gibbs. Do you know how McGee likes them fixed?"

He knew the boys tended to favor breakfast burritos when they traded off buying food in the mornings, but Gibbs had also spent several days in Los Angeles with McGee and remembered his usual morning order. "He'll tell you anything is fine, but he likes his eggs over easy and his bacon crisp. Hash browns are in the freezer, and there's a new bottle of ketchup in the cupboard."

"Ketchup?"

"His dad was Navy." Gibbs finished his coffee and set the cup in the sink. "I'll probably be seeing both of you in a few hours."

"Agent Gibbs?" Palmer was sure that McGee was supposed to stay put today.

Gibbs grinned as he explained. "McGee is going to call Harvey, probably while he's still at the table. He's going to get frustrated with talking Harvey through what McGee wants him to do, and he's going to insist on coming to the Yard to run the search himself."

"And that's okay?"

A week ago, Gibbs wouldn't have bothered to explain. "He may be out of the field for a while, but when it comes to the computer, McGee is a better agent one-handed than anyone else there. I don't have a problem showing some of the vultures that McGee's position on my team is secure. Just stay in the bullpen with him if we're not there and don't give in too quick." The grin widened. "Don't want him to know we're expecting it."

* * *

The morning sun woke Tim and he carefully stretched as he sat up. There was some tingling in his shoulder, which told him the nerve block was beginning to wear off. Palmer arrived at the door before he tried to stand up, and under his watchful eye, McGee washed up and dressed. Once Palmer was satisfied with the incision and had his arm strapped back into place, they both headed for the kitchen, Jimmy's steadying hand on McGee's back.

"You sit down and I'll fix you some food. There's coffee, but Gibbs made it so do you want me to water it down for you?" The shudder and the look were enough to convince him and Jimmy handed over a straight cup before starting the food.

After a murmured thanks, McGee quietly enjoyed his coffee while Jimmy cooked. The eggs were just sliding onto the plate when Tim spoke up. "Jimmy, I want to thank you for all that you've done to help me. There's probably a good chance I wouldn't have survived without your help."

"Tony was with me when you called. He knew exactly what to do, and your team..." Jimmy faltered for a second, then decided to push ahead. "Your team didn't hesitate, even though they didn't know what was going on. All they knew was that you were in trouble and needed help. Maybe you underestimated them?"

"Yeah, maybe I did." When Tim couldn't open the new ketchup bottle, he had to wait for Jimmy to break the seal and it gave him a minute to compose his thoughts. "The more I thought they didn't care, the more I pulled back and kept problems to myself. The more I kept to myself, the more they thought they were respecting my privacy."

Jimmy handed over the open bottle. "I think everybody is glad that's one cycle that got broken." McGee quieted and Jimmy was pretty sure he knew who the other man was thinking about. "Even Abby's had a wake up call. I heard that Agent Gibbs really laid down the law about how she was treating you."

"Really?"

Washing the pans gave Jimmy something to keep his hands busy. "Ducky told me that she got really quiet after Gibbs scolded her. Not the mad kind of quiet," Jimmy hurried to explain, "but the embarrassed and really thinking about what she'd done kind of quiet." Wanting to fill the awkward silence, Jimmy let the question bubble out. "What's the thing with the ketchup? I mean Gibbs got a new bottle for you and when I asked him, he just said that your dad was in the Navy."

"Aboard ship, condiments are their own food group." Tim smiled at the memory of meals fixed by their father. His sister had taken the use of condiments to a fine art, her pizzas were a sure sign of that, but he'd never realized how much ketchup had become a comfort food for him. At least not until he thought about Gibbs making a special trip to the store to make sure he had a fresh bottle. Feeling secure and protected, Tim reached for his phone. It was time to bring down the two women who had hurt his family by risking his life. With the phone on speaker and on the table, McGee spent the next thirty minutes trying to talk Harvey through what Tim thought was a simple search. Finally, he gave up and told Harvey he was on his way in.

Remembering what Gibbs said, Palmer spent a few minutes fussing about him leaving the house before agreeing to take him to the Yard.

* * *

DiNozzo looked up and grinned. "Probie, my man." He reached over and held out his hand. Ziva grumbled and handed him a twenty dollar bill while Gibbs just shook his head.

McGee stared at them before shaking his head. "Do I even want to know?"

"Ziva is taking us out to lunch, McGee." Tony pulled Tim's chair out for him.

Grateful to sit down, Tim didn't argue as he started to boot up his computer. "Okay, but it's kind of early for lunch."

Tony's hand moved up from the back of the chair to McGee's shoulder. "Whenever you're ready, but don't push it too hard. You've just started recovering."

"Agreed, McGee. Let us be your legs today. Would you like some coffee?"

"Thanks, but maybe later Ziva." He was already engrossed in the file Harvey had started and missed the exchanged smiles as his team watched him settle in. It was less than an hour later when he gave a soft yell.

"Yes."

Gibbs looked up. "Find something already, McGee?"

"Gloria Harden was originally Gloria Mason."

"Yeah, her maiden name." Tony's reminder was gentle.

McGee wasn't done. "In between there she married, divorced and then retook her maiden name again."

That stopped DiNozzo. "Really? Damn, how'd we miss that?"

"Marriage lasted less than six months. She was only twenty when she dumped him, but get this: she attended college under her married name until she was expelled for selling essays. It's the same college Capt Andrews attended before she enlisted."

Gibbs was already on his feet. "At the same time? Can we prove they knew each other at college?"

"Same time, same dorm and Andrews' GPA dropped so much after Gloria Mason Cooper Harden was expelled that she lost her scholarship and had to join the Navy to finish her degree. Mrs. Harden's ex-husband died in prison about fifteen years ago, but his bank account is still active, very active."

The printer was already spitting out McGee's findings and Gibbs started handing them out. "Ziva, start tracking that bank activity. DiNozzo, let's get something solid from the college. McGee, let's go see Ducky."

* * *

Gibbs parked himself on one of the other tables as he watched Ducky and Palmer carefully cut away the heavy gauze wrapped around McGee's lower arm. He looked closely at the crisscrossed angry scars, overlaid by the fresh surgical incision. He'd never known just how bad the original injury was and realized that the young man never wore short sleeves anymore, even during the hottest days of the summer. "Has Abby ever seen those?" Even before McGee shook his head, Gibbs had his phone out and was summoning Abby down to Autopsy.

While they waited, Ducky started tapping at McGee's upper arm, working his way down until Tim could no longer feel the pressure. "The nerve block is resolving right on schedule, Timothy. Now, I don't want you to be stubborn when you start hurting, young man. It's important that you not stress those nerves."

"He'll take his pain meds, Duck, I'll make sure. What about the scarring, can anything be done about that?" Gibbs had his share of scars, but they paled in comparison to the raised, red keloid scars he was looking at.

Ducky bent closer to take a better look. "Have any of your doctors discussed treatment options with you yet, McGee?" Behind them, Abby quietly arrived and listened to the answer.

"I've had a couple of appointments with a plastic surgeon. He's recommending multiple laser treatments, but it has to finally heal first. Besides, insurance doesn't cover it and I've only been able to start saving up the last few months."

Gibbs had a pretty good idea why. "You mean since Jethro went to his new owners?"

"Yeah." Tim looked up and saw Abby standing behind Ducky, staring at his arm.

"That looks really bad, McGee."

Palmer spoke up for the first time. "It is really bad, Abby, and we still don't know if this surgery worked."

Eyes wide, she kept glancing between Ducky, Palmer and the mangled skin on McGee's arm. "What if it didn't work? What will happen then?"

Jimmy knew McGee would try to downplay it, not wanting to upset her, so he answered before Tim could open his mouth. "They might try again, but chances are that if this didn't work, then nothing else will and his hand could be paralyzed."

"I'm sorry, McGee." A tear worked down her face and she bit her lip to keep it from trembling. "I guess as long as I never looked at it, I could pretend that it wasn't so bad, but it really was, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was," Tim reached out with his right hand, "but I'm gonna be okay." She let him pull her into a hug.

"You promise?"

"Gonna do my best."

She returned the hug gently. "Gibbs told me about Jethro's new home. You did better at that than I did. I didn't care about anything except being right. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course, Abs. Tell you what, the next time I go out to visit Gary and Karen, why don't you come with me? How does that sound?"

Her enthusiastic nod slapped her pigtails against his face, but he didn't mind.

* * *

It was almost anti-climatic when Mrs. Harden arrived at NCIS. Vance asked her to come sign the papers to release her husband's body and she arrived within an hour. She didn't seem concerned when the Director escorted her into a conference room. "Will this take long? I have to choose the flowers for the memorial service."

"Of course not, we just have to clear up a few details." He opened the door and Gibbs looked up from the papers he had spread out on the table.

"Hello, Mrs. Harden, or should I say Mrs. Cooper?" She froze, then sat slowly, listening as Gibbs continued. "I must congratulate you. Slipping some money out every month to stash in your ex-husband's account was brilliant. It also proves intent and planning. All we had to do was follow the money to Capt Andrews. If it wasn't for that, we would have never found the money she hid in her aunt's estate."

"I want a lawyer and a deal."

"No deal, lady. I've got enough to convict both of you. Maybe the two of you will be cellmates." Gibbs stood with a smile. "Your lawyer can meet you for your booking."

* * *

Two weeks later:

Gibbs looked up as he front door closed. "Hey, McGee, how did your appointment go?"

Smiling and wearing a standard sling, Tim leaned against the counter watching Gibbs pour two cups of coffee. "See for yourself." Biting his lip in concentration he supported his left hand with his right as he slowly moved each finger on his left hand.

"It worked." Breathing out, Gibbs leaned against the counter next to McGee. "What happens now?"

"Lots and lots of therapy, and then we'll see. Dr. Morrison said it's up to me at this point."

"Us, you mean." Gibbs laid a hand on Tim's shoulder, guiding him to the table, already set for the Pizza that would be arriving with Tony and Ziva. An old wooden box was sitting in the center of the table, and had been for the last week, but Gibbs had made no effort to explain it before now. Once Tim was seated, Gibbs sat in the chair next to him and picked up the box.

"Boss?"

"This was my grandfather's, and now I want you to have it, Tim." He held the box still while Tim opened the antique latch. Once the latch was open, the box unfolded to reveal an assortment of small tools, brightly colored threads and feathers. Tim recognized it immediately.

"Wow, a fly tying kit."

Gibbs was pleased at the recognition. "You've seen one before?"

"My uncle used to tie his own flies. He took me fly fishing with him one summer." Tim let his hands trail over the well polished wood. "This is a family heirloom..."

"Yeah, it is."

A piece of Gibbs' heritage that would help one of his sons recover the dexterity in his fingers, Tim smiled in understanding. "Thanks, Boss, this means a lot. This Spring, when I have enough flies ready, would you go with me to try them out?"

Gibbs squeezed the base of McGee's neck. "I'm looking forward to it, Tim."


End file.
